After installing around 50 updates - including all security updates for
IE8 - manually I am now able to access windows update online . The comp is
now downloading 104 security updates from M$ .

--
Snag
Kiss my ass HO-ANN

On 05/12/2016 08:55 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
After installing around 50 updates - including all security updates for
IE8 - manually I am now able to access windows update online . The comp is
now downloading 104 security updates from M$ .




Glad you got it working.

MS is just making it a bit harder to get updates for their older
operating systems...and with Win10 they are making it too easy...VIZ:
Giving them to you when you don't want them

philo wrote:
On 05/12/2016 08:55 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
After installing around 50 updates - including all security
updates for IE8 - manually I am now able to access windows update
online . The comp is now downloading 104 security updates from M$ .




Glad you got it working.

MS is just making it a bit harder to get updates for their older
operating systems...and with Win10 they are making it too easy...VIZ:
Giving them to you when you don't want them

One of the first things I did when we got the "new" W7 laptop (Lenovo 4180
refurb from Newegg) was disable the W10 updates . Everything I've read/heard
indicates they're trying to force everyone W7 and later to upgrade whether
they want it or not . Too many privacy issues for my taste - I won't use
cloud storage either . At least with the files all on my own machine I stand
a chance of retaining *some* privacy .

--
Snag

On 05/12/2016 09:29 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
philo wrote:
On 05/12/2016 08:55 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
After installing around 50 updates - including all security
updates for IE8 - manually I am now able to access windows update
online . The comp is now downloading 104 security updates from M$ .




Glad you got it working.

MS is just making it a bit harder to get updates for their older
operating systems...and with Win10 they are making it too easy...VIZ:
Giving them to you when you don't want them

One of the first things I did when we got the "new" W7 laptop (Lenovo 4180
refurb from Newegg) was disable the W10 updates . Everything I've read/heard
indicates they're trying to force everyone W7 and later to upgrade whether
they want it or not . Too many privacy issues for my taste - I won't use
cloud storage either . At least with the files all on my own machine I stand
a chance of retaining *some* privacy .




Though I don't use Win10, I am evaluating it.


They don't make it easy but it can be tweaked to turn off automatic
updates and huge portions of the default spying can be disabled.

When I do chose to use Windows, I'll be sticking with Win7 for many years.

On Thu, 12 May 2016 22:00:36 -0500, philo wrote:

When I do chose to use Windows, I'll be sticking with Win7 for many years.

That only takes you up the ladder one step from guys like me with XP.

On 05/12/2016 10:27 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 12 May 2016 22:00:36 -0500, philo wrote:

When I do chose to use Windows, I'll be sticking with Win7 for many years.

That only takes you up the ladder one step from guys like me with XP.




As to which OS I use...as long as it does the job, that's the bottom line.


I have just about every OS you can imagine at my fingertips.


Though I mainly use Linux, I've got both XP and Win7 machines at my
disposal. ...but many many more...pretty much every thing between Win1
and Win10 inclusive...

and what the heck, a number of Mac's as well (both PPC and Intel)

On Thursday, May 12, 2016 at 11:00:39 PM UTC-4, philo wrote:
On 05/12/2016 09:29 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
philo wrote:
On 05/12/2016 08:55 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
After installing around 50 updates - including all security
updates for IE8 - manually I am now able to access windows update
online . The comp is now downloading 104 security updates from M$ .




Glad you got it working.

MS is just making it a bit harder to get updates for their older
operating systems...and with Win10 they are making it too easy...VIZ:
Giving them to you when you don't want them

One of the first things I did when we got the "new" W7 laptop (Lenovo 4180
refurb from Newegg) was disable the W10 updates . Everything I've read/heard
indicates they're trying to force everyone W7 and later to upgrade whether
they want it or not . Too many privacy issues for my taste - I won't use
cloud storage either . At least with the files all on my own machine I stand
a chance of retaining *some* privacy .




Though I don't use Win10, I am evaluating it.


They don't make it easy but it can be tweaked to turn off automatic
updates and huge portions of the default spying can be disabled.

When I do chose to use Windows, I'll be sticking with Win7 for many years.

I looked at the demos for Win 10. From what I can see it's different
enough from Win 7 to be annoying, but not so different that you can't
get it to be close to Win 7 and learn how to use it. A friend said that
was his experience, he had to spend time changing some things around, etc.

On the other hand, I see no new features, benefits to me. The only
neat thing I saw was that you can mark up a webpage and then send it
to someone. For example, you could circle a couple of things on a
page. On the other hand, I don't have the need to do that. And even
worse, that only works with a touchscreen device.

So, for me the only real advantage would be to be able to move to
Win 10 for free and be on a new product that has a longer support
life than the Win 7, which is now 3 1/2 more years. I'll probably
move before the free upgrade runs out soon. But I also wouldn't be
surprised if they extend that.

On 05/13/2016 10:31 AM, trader_4 wrote:
O



Though I don't use Win10, I am evaluating it.


They don't make it easy but it can be tweaked to turn off automatic
updates and huge portions of the default spying can be disabled.

When I do chose to use Windows, I'll be sticking with Win7 for many years.

I looked at the demos for Win 10. From what I can see it's different
enough from Win 7 to be annoying, but not so different that you can't
get it to be close to Win 7 and learn how to use it. A friend said that
was his experience, he had to spend time changing some things around, etc.

On the other hand, I see no new features, benefits to me. The only
neat thing I saw was that you can mark up a webpage and then send it
to someone. For example, you could circle a couple of things on a
page. On the other hand, I don't have the need to do that. And even
worse, that only works with a touchscreen device.

So, for me the only real advantage would be to be able to move to
Win 10 for free and be on a new product that has a longer support
life than the Win 7, which is now 3 1/2 more years. I'll probably
move before the free upgrade runs out soon. But I also wouldn't be
surprised if they extend that.



I decided to take one of my many "stand by" machines and update it to Win10.

It all went OK. probably won't use the machine unless I have some kind
of a minor emergency...but if it's a few years from now, at least I'll
have a newer OS on hand.

On Thu, 12 May 2016 21:29:27 -0500, "Terry Coombs"
wrote:

philo wrote:
On 05/12/2016 08:55 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
After installing around 50 updates - including all security
updates for IE8 - manually I am now able to access windows update
online . The comp is now downloading 104 security updates from M$ .




Glad you got it working.

MS is just making it a bit harder to get updates for their older
operating systems...and with Win10 they are making it too easy...VIZ:
Giving them to you when you don't want them

One of the first things I did when we got the "new" W7 laptop (Lenovo 4180
refurb from Newegg) was disable the W10 updates . Everything I've read/heard
indicates they're trying to force everyone W7 and later to upgrade whether
they want it or not . Too many privacy issues for my taste - I won't use
cloud storage either . At least with the files all on my own machine I stand
a chance of retaining *some* privacy .
With the "custom install" option you can shut off virtually all the
"privacy issue" concerns.

On 05/13/2016 12:28 AM, wrote:

One of the first things I did when we got the "new" W7 laptop (Lenovo 4180
refurb from Newegg) was disable the W10 updates . Everything I've read/heard
indicates they're trying to force everyone W7 and later to upgrade whether
they want it or not . Too many privacy issues for my taste - I won't use
cloud storage either . At least with the files all on my own machine I stand
a chance of retaining *some* privacy .
With the "custom install" option you can shut off virtually all the
"privacy issue" concerns.




Yes, the first time I did a Win10 install, I just went with the express
setup.

Next time I took the "custom" option and even for Microsoft was shocked
by all the spying they enable by default. I suggest no one use that
option...though the spying can be turned off later.


If you do not have the "Home" version of Win10, " policy editor" allows
manual control of updates and reboots.

Google will give the exact instructions.

On Thu, 12 May 2016 20:55:08 -0500, "Terry Coombs"
wrote:

After installing around 50 updates - including all security updates for
IE8 - manually I am now able to access windows update online . The comp is
now downloading 104 security updates from M$ .

Cool, I am glad top see they are still there. You had me ready to load
a machine to try it. (I always have something around here that could
use a brain transplant)
When I load one and put SP3 on, the updates come overnight.

Just for gee whiz info, their authentication server seems to be turned
off. I have loaded 2 machines the same day with the same key and both
of them got updated. When I went for MovieMaker, they passed the
"genuine" test.

On 5/12/2016 6:55 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
After installing around 50 updates - including all security updates for
IE8 - manually I am now able to access windows update online . The comp is
now downloading 104 security updates from M$ .

The wsoffline tools should have had all of the "required" updates.
Did it NOT install all of them?

Also, you should review each update as MS's idea of "security"/required
may differ from yours!

Don Y wrote:
On 5/12/2016 6:55 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
After installing around 50 updates - including all security
updates for IE8 - manually I am now able to access windows update
online . The comp is now downloading 104 security updates from M$ .

The wsoffline tools should have had all of the "required" updates.
Did it NOT install all of them?

Also, you should review each update as MS's idea of
"security"/required may differ from yours!

The updates are there but I found no way to install them except one at a
time . Tht gets old after the first 15 or 20 ...

--
Snag

On 5/13/2016 5:09 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
Don Y wrote:
On 5/12/2016 6:55 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
After installing around 50 updates - including all security
updates for IE8 - manually I am now able to access windows update
online . The comp is now downloading 104 security updates from M$ .

The wsoffline tools should have had all of the "required" updates.
Did it NOT install all of them?

Also, you should review each update as MS's idea of
"security"/required may differ from yours!

The updates are there but I found no way to install them except one at a
time . Tht gets old after the first 15 or 20 ...

There are two programs involved.

UpdateGenerator.exe gives you a dialog that lets you decide which
updates you want to download (fetch) from Microsoft. You "tick" boxes
for all of the updates that you want and it chugs along for ages
getting all of the files.

Once you have the updates on a "local disk", you run UpdateInstaller.exe.
This lets you decide which updates you want to *install*. Again, you
"tick" boxes in a dialog for things like:
- C++ runtime libraries
- Security Essentials
- Remote Desktop client
- .NET frameworks
etc.

There are two boxes in this dialog that you "always" want to tick:
- verify the updates (ensures the files that you PREVIOUSLY downloaded
are intact and genuine/signed)
- show log file

Once you begin, it sorts out which updates you NEED to install based
on your "ticked" choices. Then, it figures out what prerequisites
each of those require (it does this by examining a file that it
downloaded previously that declares these prerequisites). It usually
takes a long time (several minutes, depending on CPU speed) to sort
through this "prerequisite list".

[The prerequisite list says things like: install update KB345039
before KB998744, install update KB747463 if .NET4 is present, etc.]

Then, it chugs through the hundred plus updates applying them
in the "correct" order -- and only those that SHOULD be applied.

While this is happening, you see a DOS box (text screen) that
just rattles off all of the files that it is installing:
"Installing update 1 of 115
Verifying integrity of \blah\blah\update1's_real_name
Installing \blah\blah\update1's_real_name
...
Installing update 47 of 115
Verifying integrity of \blah\blah\update47's_real_name
Installing \blah\blah\update47's_real_name
Installing update 48 of 115
Verifying integrity of \blah\blah\update48's_real_name
Installing \blah\blah\update48's_real_name
..."

When this is done, it will either say, "Done" or "Please reboot and ReRun".
The latter happens when the update process requires a reboot before it
can continue.

In either case, when you reboot, you end up seeing a (notepad?) window
that displays a log of all of the actions that it did. You can save
this so you can have a record of its actions -- which updates it
installed, etc. You can run the UpdateInstaller.exe again to
select other updates and this log file just grows.

So, if you are only interested in updating XP, ...
and, given that XP no longer has any NEW updates, ...
once you have downloaded all of the updates with UpdateGenerator.exe,
you NEVER need to talk to MS again!

Build a new machine? Install XP using your XP CD (with sp3, preferably).
Then, run UpdateInstaller.exe with the files you downloaded.

I.e., your machine has NEVER talked to MS and you have all of the
updates in place.

Repeat for the next machine...

Said another way, before your machine is ever exposed to the ugly/nasty
Internet, you can have all of the security updates in place!